How Warby Parker navigated the COVID-19 crisis with Neil Blumenthal

Executive overview

When COVID-19 hit, Warby Parker faced a split reality: 120 stores forced shut and an e-commerce arm accelerating. The core challenge wasn't the disruption itself — it was making high-stakes decisions without reliable data.

Neil Blumenthal and co-CEO Dave Gilboa responded by defaulting to conservative, blunt action early, then shifting to precision decision-making as data improved. They treated the crisis as an accelerant, not just a setback.

Crises compress time: COVID accelerated consumer behavior shifts by three to five years, and the companies that invest through the disruption capture lasting market share.

Early response and store closures

• Supply chain monitoring started in November 2019; initial concern was frame manufacturers in China and Japan
• Warby pulled inventory stateside early, ahead of transportation disruptions
• As the outbreak spread to Europe in late February, the company shifted to health and safety mode
• Warby was one of the first national retailers — and the first national optical retailer — to close all 120 stores in mid-March
• The decision was "blunt, not precision" because reliable infection data didn't exist yet
• Closing all stores simultaneously, rather than selectively, reflected the absence of county-level data needed for targeted choices

Decision framework for reopening

• Reopening driven by factors knowable with certainty: store location (street vs. indoor mall), store size, ability to reconfigure for social distancing
• Customer and staff transit reliance factored in — whether public transport is required to reach the store
• Local infection data tracked at the county level: case trajectory, hospital capacity, ICU bed availability
• Each store evaluated against a checklist built with input from public health experts, infectious disease doctors, Johns Hopkins, and other institutions

In-store safety protocols

• Mandatory guided shopping: one associate walks each customer through the store
• Every frame disinfected before and after try-on
• Vinyl floor markings for traffic flow and section separation
• Daily health screenings and temperature checks for all team members
• Text-based waitlist to prevent crowding outside stores
• Contactless payment introduced; eye exam intake fully digitised; prescriptions sent by email only

Manufacturing facility operations

• Optical lab in Sloatsburg, NY stayed open throughout — Warby Parker classified as essential in all 50 states
• Initial attendance dropped to 40%; Blumenthal visited in person to demonstrate safety and reinforce the mission
• Protocols: health questionnaires, temperature checks (upgraded from handheld thermometers to thermal cameras), mandatory hourly hand washing, masks and gloves
• Production line rearranged for social distancing; lunches staggered; additional break spaces created

E-commerce and digital acceleration

• Online business stabilised in the first weeks then accelerated sharply — strong year-over-year growth with a higher share of new customers
• Virtual try-on app (built on Apple ARKit for true-to-scale fit) hit record downloads
• Pre-COVID, most in-store customers had already visited the website first; that behaviour is now intensifying
• Plan to have customers do virtual try-on before arriving so the right frames are ready on arrival

Telehealth and eye care

• Prescription check app (vision test via iPhone paired with second screen, reviewed by an MD) saw exponential adoption growth
• Optometrists kept on payroll during closures; redeployed to video consultations with customers
• Regulatory barriers remain: the optometry lobby has resisted telehealth expansion, partly because optometrists earn 70% of income from glasses sales
• Blumenthal's vision: better triage via remote diagnostics, with in-person visits reserved for cases that require them

Buy a pair, give a pair — pandemic adjustments

• Shelter-in-place orders and PPE shortages in developing markets (India, Bangladesh) made glasses distribution unsafe
• Nonprofit partners temporarily redirected from providing glasses to distributing PPE — masks, gloves, eye protection, soap — to frontline health workers globally

Leadership and communication

• Over-communication is essential: Warby moved from one weekly all-hands to two shorter videos per week (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
• Shorter, more frequent updates replace the informal hallway communication lost in remote work
• Key tensions every founder is navigating: protecting jobs vs. preserving cash; supply chain continuity vs. demand uncertainty
• Blumenthal furloughed store staff after five weeks but committed to make them whole — topping up unemployment insurance where the CARES Act supplement fell short

Cash, capital, and investment lens

• Warby avoided layoffs due to a strong balance sheet built deliberately over time
• Headquarters remains remote; New York office at social distancing capacity would hold only 25% of normal headcount — not worth reopening for that
• Continued hiring for e-commerce and technology roles
• As an investor, Blumenthal is applying tighter scrutiny to capital intensity and recession resistance; glasses are countercyclical (always needed); SaaS businesses benefit from scalability
• Retail rent leverage expected over the next 12–18 months; Warby plans to open more stores and capture better locations

Future store design

• New stores designed for flexibility: wider footprints, better customer separation
• Construction team now studying hospital and ambulatory surgery centre ventilation standards, including HEPA filtration
• Overindexing on fresh air intake in new builds